While strongly rumored to be one of the possible bidders for Hulu (as well as DailyMotion), search engine giants Yahoo are believed to have completed a takeover of a high-profile online brand, with their directors approving a $1.1b ‘all-cash acquisition’ bid for Tumblr.

Board members of Yahoo are said to have offered their ‘unanimous agreement’ for the deal, and are believed to be planning an official announcement on the matter today (20 May).

The deal for the photo-blogging site, if completed, will see the service’s current CEO David Karp carry on his role (overseen by Yahoo) ‘for at least four years’, with the Tumblr management also retaining a ‘significant level of control’ on the site photo-blogging site.

Having been rumoured for ‘several weeks’, the interest in Tumblr taken by Yahoo is thought to be part of a strategy by CEO Marissa Mayer’s to make the site ‘cool again’. This plan would presumably cover any interest Yahoo have in video platforms Hulu and DailyMotion as well as the current Tumblr proposals

If completed, the deal would enable Yahoo access to Tumblr’s audience base of over 117 million monthly visitors and 108.4 million blogs, although current opinion amongst many of these users is that Yahoo’s tendency towards advertising could be detrimental to their enjoyment of the site’s relatively commercial-free experience.

While it would take some PR expertise to get around the most nay-saying of opposers, will Yahoo’s potential deal become a positive one for Tumblr, or will many see it as a desperate attempt from the search engine to keep up with rivals that will inevitably fall flat?

4 Comments

[…] plenty of features adding to the free-to-download service provided by one of the most recognizable online brand names, will Yahoo Sports become the king of a generalised sporting second-screen experience? Specialist […]